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Month: February 2017

Hello, welcome back to another Tuesday. Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. This week there’s no theme, because the TTT is on hiatus until next week. But I didn’t want to skip it, so I came up with something to share with you guys.

I have a lot of books on my Netgalley shelf, books that I requested sometimes long ago and for one reason or another I haven’t read them yet. But I want to! And I will. So I thought I would share with you some of those books, so maybe if you’ve read any of them, you could tell my why I should up them on my reading list. 😀

Claire O’Connor is back in Juniper Falls, but that doesn’t mean she wants to be. One semester off, that’s what she promised herself. Just long enough to take care of her father and keep the family business — a hockey bar beside the ice rink — afloat. After that, she’s getting the hell out. Again.

Enter Tate Tanley. What happened between them the night before she left town resurfaces the second they lay eyes on each other. But the guy she remembers has been replaced by a total hottie. When Tate is unexpectedly called in to take over for the hockey team’s star goalie, suddenly he’s in the spotlight and on his way to becoming just another egotistical varsity hockey player. And Claire’s sworn off Juniper Falls hockey players for good.

It’s the absolute worst time to fall in love.

For Tate and Claire, hockey isn’t just a game. And they both might not survive a body check to the heart.

I read this book as a buddy read with Cátia @The Girl Who Read Too, so go to her blog in the next few days for her take on this book.

So… yeah, so I don’t quite know what I was expecting from this book, but it sort of wasn’t what I got…

I’m gonna start with the writing, and here my impression of this book wasn’t the most amazing. The book is told in dual POV, first person, but my main problem here is that between Tate and Claire’s voice, there’s not much distinction. Both characters sound eerily similar and I wouldn’t know who was saying what if their names weren’t at the top of the chapter. This was one of the reasons that the writing didn’t totally work for me.

But my main problem was that this was a very busy book. There was way too much going on in the main characters’ lives, and around them. Way too much. It took me way too long to just distinguish between Tate’s friends. There’s the drama of their romance, Tate’s dad, Claire’s dad, Claire’s school, hockey, Haley, Mike, Leo, …

It could have been great, because everyone has issues and those were things that could have been all going on and it would have been fine, but the way they were written, they just felt like they were dragging the book down and made it way too busy. With way too much drama!

The main thing about this book is definitly family, familial obligations and responsibilities, and the weight of those things. I actually really liked this theme, and some of the ways it was explored, especially towards the end. I felt like both main characters grow up a lot throughout the book.

About Claire and Tate… I wasn’t particular fond of either of them, though I had nothing against them either. I just felt very indifferent towards them, and that’s not good. I understood their issues and their fears, and I liked that they leaned on each other and weren’t afraid to voice their true opinions. But even though the pacing of their relationship was towards slow at first, I still felt that it was lacking something.

Overall this book didn’t quite work for me, though I thought the story had loads of potential. It was just little things that ultimately didn’t do it for me. But give it a chance, it has some pretty strong topics and messages.

THE HOT ONE!

Want a slow burn, sexy-as-sin second chance romance filled with wit, humor and so much heart? Dive in, and get ready to swoon and fan yourself from the heat!

A sexy, feel-good romance that makes you feel good all over, THE HOT ONE is a hot, second chance standalone romance and the story of confident, charming and cocky attorney Tyler Nichols who is determined to win back his college sweetheart when he runs into her in NYC eight years later. He’ll do anything to win her heart… including stripping naked for her at her office. Can she move on from the hurt and give love a brand new chance? Find out in this sexy, fun, and sizzling romance full of heart, charm and heat! Told in dual POV, THE HOT ONE is being called over-the-top hot and utterly addictive. Grab your copy of THE HOT ONE and get ready to laugh, swoon, and fan yourself from the heat!

“The Hot One is love, laugh-out-loud humor, and lust all wrapped up in the perfect package…PURE PLEASURE!!!” ~ Bookalicious Babes Blog

“Lauren Blakely is the QUEEN of sweet, fun, and steamy reads… Her books are utterly addictive.” ~ Angie’s Dreamy Reads

Review:

At first glance, stripping naked at my ex-girlfriend’s place of work might not seem like the brightest way to win her back.

But trust me on this count – she always liked me best without any clothes on. And sometimes you’ve got to play to your strengths when you’re fighting an uphill battle. As a lawyer, I know how to fight, and I’m prepared to fight hard for her. I might have let her slip through my fingers the last time, but no way will that happen twice.

***

He’s the one who got away…

The nerve of Tyler Nichols to reappear like that, stripping at my job, showing off his rock hard body that drove me wild far too many nights. That man with his knowing grin and mischievous eyes is nothing but a cocky, arrogant jerk to saunter back into my life. Except, what if he’s not a jerk . . .? He’s the one I’ve tried like hell to forget but just can’t. Maybe I’m cursed to remember him. My money is on him being the same guy he always was, but what’s the harm in giving him a week to prove he’s a new man? I won’t fall for him again.

Lauren Blakely did it again! I keep loving her awesome contemporary romances. You might remember that a while back I read and reviewed The Sexy One, which is another book in this series. Actually, we get a few glimpses at Simon throughout this book.

I love a good second chance romance, and that’s exactly what I got. 😀

The book is told in dual POV, first person, and is hilarious and sexy and fun. Seriously guys, have you read anything by Lauren Blakely? No? WHY THE HELL NOT?

Back to the matter at hands, so the story is about Delaney and Tyler, who dated back in college, planned a life together and were all kinds of amazing together, until Tyler decided to break it off to follow his career. Until they meet again, by chance, 8 years later, eheh.

Both characters were great. Delaney was snarky and yet calm, and she was sure of herself. The girl was hilarious. Tyler is so determined! Once he got something in his head, he didn’t give it up.

But their connection was the most amazing thing of all. I really liked the descriptions of how they were in college, how much respect and love was there, so I wasn’t surprised when it happens again 🙂 . The whole relationship is serious #goals! And the banter? Oh boy…

Although this is a smallish and very fast book, there’s still character growth, a lot of humour and amazing friendships. As well as some super hot scenes. The plot was also great, and I didn’t guess it at all, so YAY!

Seriously people, start reading Blakely’s books, you won’t be sorry.

Excerpt:

Technically, I didn’t drop my drawers the first time I saw her again. Just my balls.

The ones in my hands. Juggling balls.

Here’s how it went down. Picture a Sunday morning in Central Park. A perfect summer day. The grass was green, the breeze was warm, and I’d just spent the last few hours getting acquainted with turtles and frogs at the children’s zoo because I’m an awesome uncle. And Carly’s one cool seven-year-old.

The kid loves all creatures, but especially the ones that jump and crawl, so I took her to the enchanted forest part of the zoo. When we finished, she tugged on my shirt sleeve, batted her hazel eyes, and asked ever so sweetly for an ice cream cone.

Like I stood a chance at resisting her. C’mon. She’s my cousin’s kid, and clearly she gets her charm from our side of the family.

With her hand in mine, we strolled across the grass near the running path, hunting for the nearest ice cream dealer.

And then Carly did that thing little kids do.

She shrieked for what seemed like absolutely no reason. Next, she pointed to an impossibly tall dude wearing a beret while juggling two Rubik’s Cubes, two orange balls, and a small green beanbag.

“He can do five, Uncle Tyler!” Carly shouted, her eyes going wide.

“Five isn’t too shabby,” I said with a shrug.

She turned to me with a questioning stare. “I’ve never seen you do five.”

“That’s because I haven’t shown you all my tricks yet.”

“Can you really juggle five balls?”

I scoffed. “Please, I can do that with my eyes closed.”

I didn’t put myself through law school juggling for nothing.

Just kidding.

You can’t put yourself through law school juggling anything but insane class schedules and lack of sleep.

Carly arched an eyebrow. So did the juggler, as he kept up the cascade of his quintet. Show-off.

“I want to see. Show me,” Carly urged.

Yeah, Carly’s a chip off the old block. She’s all about challenging me, and I’m all about rising to the challenge.

The stick-thin guy with the beret raised his chin. “Have at it, man.”

With clockwork precision, he let the balls fall out of orbit and into his palm. Next, the Rubik’s Cubes. Then the beanbag. He stepped closer, handed me the objects, and flashed a crooked, put-your-money-where-your-mouth-is grin.

Game on.

Packs of runners jogged along, cyclists wheeled over the black asphalt, and rollerbladers whizzed by on the concrete. With my feet parked hip’s width apart, I stood at the edge of the grass getting a feel for the items, weighing them, and then one, two, three, four, five, I whisked each one up into the air in a high oval arc. Round and round, in a perfect five-ball cascade.

Carly clapped, then demanded more. “Yes, now close your eyes!”

I groaned. What was I thinking? Juggling with eyes closed is fucking hard. But I could pull it off for a couple seconds. My special skill. I obliged my niece’s request, pulling off a few quick blind ovals. Five seconds later, after I’d shown off that particular party trick, I opened my eyes.

And I saw a vision from my past.

A blond beauty, with long legs, a lovely round ass, and a high ponytail swishing back and forth across her shoulders. She ran along the path in tiny orange let-me-peel-them-off-with-my-teeth-pretty-please running shorts. And that face. Dear Lord, the stunning face of an angel. High cheekbones. Deep brown eyes that saw me like no one ever had. Those red lips, shaped like a bow. Fuck me, the things she could do with those lips. The things I taught her to do with that sinful mouth.

Delaney sure as hell knew how to use it, and I don’t just mean in the bedroom. We used to talk about anything and everything when we were together in college. Days with her. Nights with her. Best time of my life. That woman was full of spark. Full of fire. So damn passionate. And look at her now.

Jesus Christ.

It had to be illegal to be that smoking hot.

“Tyler Nichols. Oh. My. God. The title is definitely apropos. This man is over the top HOT in oh so many ways. The Hot One is a read-in-one-sitting kind of story.” ~ Naughty Girls and Their Books

About Lauren Blakely:

A #1 New York Times Bestselling author, Lauren Blakely is known for her contemporary romance style that’s hot, sweet and sexy. She lives in California with her family and has plotted entire novels while walking her dogs. With fourteen New York Times bestsellers, her titles have appeared on the New York Times, USA Today, and Wall Street Journal Bestseller Lists more than seventy-five times, and she’s sold more than 1.5 million books. In February she’ll release THE HOT ONE, a standalone contemporary romance. To receive an email when Lauren releases a new book, sign up for her newsletter! laurenblakely.com/newsletter

This was one of the movies I was most excited to see since I first saw its trailer, and I have to say that it didn’t disappoint, not one bit.

By now you should all know what the movie is about, right?

The incredible untold story of Katherine G. Johnson, Dorothy Vaughan and Mary Jackson – brilliant African-American women working at NASA, who served as the brains behind one of the greatest operations in history: the launch of astronaut John Glenn into orbit, a stunning achievement that restored the nation’s confidence, turned around the Space Race, and galvanized the world. The visionary trio crossed all gender and race lines to inspire generations to dream big.

The story is amazing in its impact. There’s not anything new to the story, because we can see the role of these women from a simple google search, but there is such a strong message and poignancy to this movie. Mainly because I think that nowadays we don’t truly know what it was to be a person of color in the US in the 60’s. And a women in that era, by the way.

I will admit that I cried. I cry each time I see those kinds of social injustices and it makes me cry out of rage.

The interpretations were amazing, all 3 ladies were flawless. The story is great, and so is the cinematography and the direction of this movie. It was one of my favorite movies in a long long time, and I wish that everyone would go to see it.

It absolutely gets 4.5 stars from me!

Now to you. Have you seen Hidden Figures? Thoughts???

Yuri!!! On Ice is not exactly news to most of you, right? After seeing it everywhere since the end of last year, I finally decided to watch it, and OH MY GOD! I devoured the episodes!!! It’s just so good! 😀

The show centers on Yuri, a japanese figure skater, who after not coping well in his last competition, decides to quit the sport, until one of his videos is leaked, and Russian Champion, Victor decides to take a break from his skating career to coach Yuri.

Unlike Cátia @The Girl Who Read Too, I’m not a die hard fan of figure skating, I appreciate the beauty and that’s it, so that’s not really what fascinated me the most about this show, though it’s still pretty amazing. No, what got me going were the amazing characters and the great relationships.

This show focus mainly on the Yuri and Victor’s journey through the ISU Grand Prix, and how much they both grow and learn about themselves. But it also shows the story and evolution of all of Yuri’s competitors. I thought there was going to be some sort of bitchy behaviour and some of them would be jerks, but that was surprisingly not true at all. The guys are so respectful of each other, and are genuinely good natured and I just really liked that.

The humour is so on point – and highly sexual – and those moments between Victor and Yuri? MAGICAL!!!

And I love Yurio! I love him so much 😀 .

I now want the second season, because those 12 episodes? They definitly were not enough!

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I will keep insisting on this one: The One Thingby Marci Lyn Curtis, because this book deserves a lot more love than the one it has gotten so far. And look at that new gorgeous cover!!

Niel from Because I Love You by Tory Rigby is one of the strongest characters I can remember. He’s 100% sure of what he wants and what is right and wrong, and he follows it, always.

Down and Out by Kelley R. Martin addresses something that I find super important, that even if you don’t explicitly say no, even if your body reacts, it doesn’t mean it’s not rape, and it’s definitly not your fault.

The Hard Countby Ginger Scott definitly has a super sweet romance.

OMG, this is a cute one! Obviously I’m gonna use Royally Screwedby Emma Chase, which is cute and awesome.

Have you guys read Progress by Amalie Silver? It’s a good, albeit weird, book, but Jesse, the guy, is one of the most manipulative characters I recall.

Any standalone? I actually thought this would be easier when I saw this theme, but then I realize that most of my books are not entirely standalones. But Ready Player One definitely is.

One of my favorite owned covers is Everything, Everything by Nicola Yoon.

Everly from the Wrong series, for sure! She provides a lot of comic relief in Wrong, but her own book, Right, is even better.

At this moment, probably The Upside of Unrequitedby Becky Albertalli, because I loved Simon and I just need Becky’s book ASAP.

Hmmm, probably the Off Campus series by Elle Kennedy, but more Him by Sarina Bowen and Elle Kennedy, because Jamie and Wes are life. ❤

OMG, this is so obvious!!! BOOK BLOGGING! It always takes up a lot of my time, though I love it, so I can’t really complain much.

Lucas Thorn wasn’t born a cheater. All it took was a single moment — say, a certain disastrous incident on the night before his wedding—and boom. Reputation destroyed forever and always. So now he owns it. He has a lady friend for every night of the week (except Sundays — God’s day and all), and his rules are simple: No commitments. No exceptions.

But a certain smart-mouthed, strawberry blonde vixen is about to blow that all to hell.

Avery Black has never forgiven Lucas for cheating on her sister. And suddenly being forced to work with him is pretty much a nightmare on steroids. Of course, it does afford her the opportunity to make his life as difficult as possible. But no good revenge scheme comes without payback. Because he didn’t become the Lucas Thorn without learning a few things about women.

Now Avery’s lust for vengeance has turned into, well, lust. And if Lucas stops cheating, it’s definitely not because he’s falling in love…

Once again, I read this book as a buddy read with Cátia @The Girl Who Read Too, so go to her blog in the next few days for her review of Cheater.

This is not my first book by Rachel Van Dyken, so I was expecting this to be funny, and holy sh*t, it was! The book is told in dual POV, first person, and while it takes place exclusively in the present, it does have some flashback scenes so we know what happened in Avery and Lucas’ pasts. I really loved the writing on this one, it was hilarious and quick and witty.

I loved both characters right away. Look, I know a lot of people will have issues with connecting with Lucas Thorn because of his past and his lifestyle, it just really didn’t bother me. While what happened in the past was wrong, it was understandable from the start – for me-, and his present didn’t actually make me cringe. Maybe because I actually think that if everyone knows and things are clear from the start, you can’t really call it cheating… Either way, I loved him. He was broken, that much was clear, but he came alive when he was with Avery and those moments were wonderful.

Avery was AWESOME! She was super strong and with an amazing sense of humour and she wasn’t scared to fight for what she wanted. I loved her.

And these two together? All kinds of amazing! The chemistry was very much there, and they always seem to have some sort of fight going on, that made them even hotter. It reminded me a bit of The Matchmaker’s Replacement, which I also loved. Their connection comes from way way back.

The plot was great. Again, some people might have some issues with some parts of the plot, especially from the past, but I understood it and I never actually saw it as wrong. Like I said… I loved it.

For me the only issue was the very short timespan of the book. The whole book happens in about 2 weeks, and some things felt a little too fast and rushed for me. I would have liked to see their feelings and relationship have more time to develop. But keep in mind that these two have known each other since forever, so there is no case of insta-love here. 😀

So, to sum it up, while I think that not everyone will love or even like this book, I still recommend it, because it was a hit for me.